Mr. Beaks Chats With The Talented Jamie Bell About The Demented MISTER FOE!

Jamie Bell is busily making a career out of playing pariahs, goofballs and fuck-ups, and he couldn't be more delighted about it. This is evidently supposed to surprise me. Ever since walking into the Four Seasons, where Magnolia Pictures is junketing David Mackenzie's seriously bent MISTER FOE, I've been hearing from publicists and journalists alike that Bell is "delightful", "really funny", and "not at all what you expect". This gives me pause. What should I expect from the gifted young actor who followed up his brilliant big-screen debut in BILLY ELLIOT with a series of off-kilter performances in mostly off-kilter movies? A feral vagrant? A disaffected twentysomething? A sexually confused peeping tom? Many actors who are capable of such stunning virtuosity tend to be blank slates in person, so I guess it is something of a revelation that Bell comes off as a charismatic, well-adjusted young man when staring down the business end of a digital recorder. He's not the kind of guy who's going to clobber you over the noggin with the "burden" of researching his role as Hallam Foe, the pervy voyeur in Mackenzie's bizarre coming-of-age tale. "Was it difficult playing a damaged teenager who mourns the death of his mother by hiding out in a hunting blind and spying on the entire village?" "Did you struggle with the raw emotional angst of screwing your predatory mother-in-law (played by the not-unattractive Claire Forlani)?" "Will Hallam always haunt you?" For the most part, it sounds like Bell had a blast inhabiting the role of a damaged kid who flees his small Scottish town for Edinburgh, where he finds true love from the city's rooftops in Kate, a hotel kitchen manager played by Sophia Myles. It's an unlikely romance that's far from acceptable on the page, but Bell keeps us engaged and, improbable as it seems, rooting for Hallam as he uses his sexual deviancy to his advantage (of course, he does wind up paying for his sins, but not in the manner you might expect). This is Bell's second standout performance of 2008, and it's nice to see him powering a good movie this time rather than intermittently saving a rotten one (as he did in Doug Liman's JUMPER). Though MISTER FOE is only getting a very limited release from Magnolia Pictures this September, Bell will be back in a (hopefully) big way this December in Ed Zwick's World War II drama DEFIANCE. Throughout the course of the below interview, we discuss all three of these movies, Bell's own adventures in voyeurism, and how JURASSIC PARK changed his life.

Mr. Beaks: I just watched MISTER FOE last night, and, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten how the movie came into existence. Then there's that early scene between you and Claire Forlani in your little aerie, and I was like, "That's right! This is from the director of YOUNG ADAM!"

Jamie Bell: (Laughing) It's true. It's kind of his signature, really. (Looking over my shoulder) And there he is! David Mackenzie. (Mackenzie walks by, quite the unassuming purveyor of sexual perversity.) But it is his signature, and... I don't often see it done like that very often. That's the amazing thing. He captures the motives of his characters in a certain way that's very animal-like. But that scene specifically, it's definitely not a romantic scene; it's a scene of lust. It's also, in a way, kind of a rape scene. She's the thirtysomething-year-old woman, and he's the kid who's just lost his mother and has harbored this incredible amount of guilt and anger towards her. I think that that is a pretty horrific physical experience for him, because when the situation arises again that he could maybe have sex, he's completely halted. I think that really affects him physically and mentally.

Beaks: He's stunted. And, worse, completely mixed up about what constitutes consensual sex. In that later scene with Sophia, he says he's a virgin and that he's had sex.

Bell: He's kind of an enigma. I remember receiving the script - and my agent was a big fan of David's; he'd had a client in YOUNG ADAM. But I remember reading the script, and in the first fifteen pages I was like, "Why do we like this guy? He's called his mother a prostitute at the dinner table, he's estranged himself from the rest of his family, he's perving on people, and he's drawing red lipstick circles around his nipples!" (Laughing) But it's the loss that he's encountered. I think before the loss, he was probably a mommy's boy to some degree. She was obviously such a huge influence on his life that when you see him [acting out], you can't help but sympathize with everything he does; when a young person experiences such loss, they harbor such intense guilt and intense anger that... it all comes out in these very weird ways. His feral-ness, the way he's almost like an animal, and his obsession with observing people, that's all to do with his sense of loss. So for me, essentially, the film charts his trajectory of change, of growing, accepting and becoming - understanding that people come and go, and that's okay.

Beaks: But, in the film's universe, being fucked up kind of works out for him. If peeping on people incessantly gets you in with Sophia Miles and Claire Forlani, maybe perving out is the way to go!

Bell: (Laughing) Exactly. My friends are all very jealous.

Beaks: But seriously...

Bell: No, you can definitely ask the question, "Why does [Sophia] fall for this guy. He's fucking weird!" But she's also a very damaged character: she's someone who's evidently been in a broken marriage, who's had an affair with her boss - which I don't think is a situation that she really wants to be in. So I think this sudden curiosity and attention from this young man makes her feel really good, and makes her really curious. It's his undying enthusiasm and his persistent chase of her that leads her to be interested in him.

Beaks: So how does it feel to be the go-to guy for characters who are a little damaged or introverted?

Bell: (Laughs) Who's the grown-up version of that? Who does that? Gary Oldman?

Beaks: Philip Seymour Hoffman?

Bell: It's very strange, this disillusioned, dysfunctional youth... but it's true. I do have a tendency for that. I don't know what it is. I think it's because there are so many other screenplays that portray young people as a certain thing or in a certain way, and I just don't connect with that. David said this thing: "The future belongs to the weird." I love that. And I love what he brought to this project as well. But in terms of being cast as that person, I'm happy with that. I enjoy doing it. I enjoy visiting those places because it makes my life feel normal and okay. I also think the audience will be much more interested in that character. They can identify certain things about themselves in these other people. That's what people enjoy watching.

Beaks: Is there ever any pressure to get away from playing damaged guys? Do you ever want to play a fellow who's got his feet planted more firmly on the ground?

Bell: I just can't see myself playing that! "Everything's okay. I'm just going to school." Or "Everything's okay. I just got a new car." I don't know if it's my upbringing or my experiences, but I'm just always drawn to those other people. I don't know what it is. They stay with me. I don't think they ever leave. Like when Hallam walks off the screen, I don't think he's going to fly to the Bahamas and have a great summer; I think he's probably going to get on the train, look at the person opposite him, and be like, "What's going on with you?" I think he's always going to be endlessly inquisitive and curious. For me, it's always going to remain that way. I can't see me every playing the good-looking, roguish... god, I'm casting myself out of jobs now! What am I doing? (Laughs) But I always see myself as leaning towards those characters more.

Beaks: Do you ever get offered the more normal roles?

Bell: They do come around. Absolutely. If there was just a level or two more to them, that'd be great. Unfortunately, it just doesn't happen that often. Also, to get a character like Hallam, who's a really original being; that's very rare as well these days, to find a piece of original material that's come out or someone's head or flowed out of their heart. It's hard to come by these things.

Beaks: That's not bad at all. Robert De Niro had fun with these kinds of roles early in his career. It gives you an opportunity to burrow. And there's a lot more room to play.

Bell: It's a playground with no rules. Since the character's slightly affected, you can kind of get away with anything. Hallam is a very bizarre kid: he lives in a clocktower, he doesn't have any friends, and everybody ends up leaving him. His mother leaves him, and his sister leaves him. He's quite upset with that until he meets this girl, gets drunk with her and has a conversation. That's the first time in the movie that we see Hallam really conversing with another human being. That's a major thing for him.

Beaks: He's trying to do the things normal people do, but that's totally not going to work for him.

Bell: I think that's where the curiosity comes from: it's learning how to do things differently, or seeing things differently.

Beaks: You were saying how you're bored by more conventional leading man roles in conventional movies. You were kind of the antidote to that in JUMPER. More than anyone else in the film, you were able to have a lot of fun. I know it was a long shoot, but were you still able to enjoy yourself despite all of that?

Bell: Because of all the problems with the production, that's all I did. Honestly, all I did was sit in a trailer with Simon Kinberg [one of the writers of JUMPER], and say, "I think he's that! I think he's this!" It's kind of amazing for a film like that. I think Doug really trusted me to just do my own thing. He loved the Griffin we came up with, and I had immense fun playing him. In films like that, I think you can only play that part. The other parts are dead ends; they're not very interesting or they just don't bring enough life. In all of those kinds of films, it's always more fun to play the dark character or the character who has issues. Also, I don't think Griffin ever invests in the stakes of the movie. He doesn't really care what the movie plot is doing; he's just going to get on with it. That was enormous fun. It was also a chance to stray off script and challenge Doug to see what he'd let me get away with. But he's a really great director.

Beaks: Do you often find yourself huddling with the screenwriter like that?

Bell: Not really. Although I do often tend to work with writer-directors, which is interesting. People like David Gordon Green, David Mackenzie... although he had a co-writer on this. But in terms of changing the dialogue, or changing scenes, or changing moments, or moving beats up, or pushing beats back, or shaping the arc of this person... [Mackenzie] was very happy to open that up. But I think to some extent David knew the character better than I did. And that's what I love; I love a director who is so passionate about the material that he can second-guess your decisions.

Beaks: I read that HAROLD & MAUDE was one of the films David looked to for inspiration. Did you mine it for ideas as well?

Bell: It's one of my favorite films, but in terms of preparing it was never like that. I was actually in New York when I was preparing to do this, and I just kept a journal and spied on people. (Laughs)

Beaks: That's a great excuse!

Bell: It's interesting how people, when they're in the space of their own home, do some really funny stuff. I called all of these people I observed my "subjects", and I named them all. There was this one guy, "Mr. Tidy Whitey"; he lives on 19th Street in New York. (Laughs) He would come home from work everyday and take off all of his clothes - except for his tidy whities. And he'd sit and watch television in his tidy whities. (Laughing) He had a dog.

Beaks: What would he watch?

Bell: I'm not sure. I could never figure that out because the TV was just out of view! I would have to lean out of my window kind of precariously - which of course Hallam would do, but I didn't want to risk my well-being. I also hung around stoops and watched people in coffee shops just to figure out what would Hallam look out for. What would be interesting to him? What is it about looking at people that is so fascinating to him? I mean, it is fascinating; we're a culture obsessed with looking at and judging each other.

Beaks: When you're building a character, do you ever find yourself drawing on what other actors have done in similar roles? Do you ever incorporate flourishes from other performers?

Bell: I think all actors secretly love to watch De Niro looking in the mirror [in TAXI DRIVER] and say to themselves, "I can do that." It doesn't work, though. It really doesn't work. I think all actors have to have this thing where you strive for originality, you strive for your own sense of truth. That's what makes those great performances: they come from their souls or some part of their lives. It's a part of their evolution as an actor. Of course, you can watch movies and be inspired by them; that's why we all continue to make them. We're all inspired by something. But the movies that inspire movie are sort of weird; they don't make any sense in terms of a pattern.

Beaks: Like what?

Bell: In terms of a movie experience? I've said this a lot today, and I don't know why, but the first film I ever saw in a movie theater was JURASSIC PARK. A seminal film in terms of technology? Absolutely. A seminal film in terms of anything else? Maybe not. I think Spielberg would also say the same. But it blew my head off! I was like, "What is this thing called 'movies'?" It does this thing to you. The John Williams music, everything about it, it makes you feel a certain way. It changed me as a kid, it completely changed me. I remember thinking "Who is this guy called Steven Spielberg?" And then I saw everything else he did.

Beaks: I had the same experience with JAWS, but that's obviously a much better movie.

Bell: Right, but it's not even about what the film is... about; it's about the feeling you can get from films. Another film like that is KOYAANISQATSI, which I only saw recently, like a couple of years ago. The tagline in the trailer is "Until now, you've never really seen the world we live in." It's so true. I was just so blown away by that. It took me to a place and made me feel something, and that's the power of films.

Beaks: And those are two films that aren't remotely about performance.

Bell: Absolutely! (Laughs) It has nothing to do with actors at all; it's about feeling. But if you can generate that feeling to some degree, you've succeeded.

Beaks: We're going to see you again this year in Ed Zwick's DEFIANCE alongside Daniel Craig. That's another "big" movie, and it's about some very weighty subject matter. Did you go right to that after MISTER FOE?

Bell: No. (Thinking) What did I do? (Thinks some more) Actually, pretty much. I went-- no! I was still on fucking JUMPER! (Laughs) It's crazy. It's a subject matter that... I'm pretty obsessed with World War II, but this was a very specific subject that I was not aware of before I signed on to do the movie. I knew about Russian partisans that fought the Nazi forces, but in terms of Jewish partisans actually fighting back and taking a stand and joining forces and stealing weapons and bargaining for their lives and living in these forests on the outskirts of Belorussia for three years and saving 1,200 people? Going into that... it's just amazing. There are many accounts from the people who survived with the Bielski brothers, and they talk about the way they see trees now; they see trees as guardian angels. Nature protected them, and helped them survive. It was intense to shoot, but we had some great actors on that.

MISTER FOE goes out in limited release this Friday, September 5th. It's one of the oddest coming-of-age stories I've seen in a while, and is well worth checking out. That Bell kid is pretty good in it.